Chapter 4: The Bonds of Empire: 1660-1750
Questions
Pg 89-94: How do royal policies change over the period of 1660-1700? What was the effect of the Glorious Revolution?
95-109: How did colonial society shift as a result of Britain’s mercantilistic policies? How did political change accompany social change?
114-120: What were the Great Awakening and the Enlightenment? Why did they occur at roughtly the same time? What effects did they have on colonial life? Were they mutually supportive or mutually hostile?
109-114, 125-127: What overall effect did Britain’s global commercial was have on the development of the British American colonies? How was the French and Indian War especially significant?
Chapter Questions:
How did the Glorious Revolution and its outcome shape relations between England and its North American colonies?
What were the most important consequences of British mercantilism for the mainland colonies?
What factors best explain the relative strengths of British, French, and Spanish colonial empires in North America?
What were the most significant consequences of the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening for life in the British colonies?
Changes and Themes
About a century after initial settlement
New trade policies + diversity etc
A new identity comes about
People aren’t so much British but are now American
American Culture
Class System
No nobility
Everybody is potentially middle class
No aristocracy
Aristocrats are hereditary inheritants of land in England
In America, anybody can be a land owner
They have people of different incomes and station, but not class
People have every opportunity to make their own way up
Individualism—everybody has a shot
Rights
Europeans say you have rights because you belong to a certain group
Americans think there are rights regardless of groups/class
Social mobility
You can make yourself as successful as you want
Competitive and opportunistic
Inventiveness—people are more creative
Exceptionalism
Americans have a sense that they are different/better
Believe that they are truly unique
“city on a hill”
Some people think they are savage b/c they don’t follow traditional civil rules
Americans think they don’t have to follow these rules
Heterogeneous not homogenous society
Diversity
American doesn’t necessarily refer to a certain race or culture b/c America is so diverse and yet all American
Philadelphia
· Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine living in 1700s
o Thomas Paine
§ Writes Common Sense: talks about individual rights and social contract
§ Writes the Crisis: at the height of the American Revolution he tells them not to give up
o Both are publishers
· Thomas Paine
o Immigrant (vs. born in America)
o Comes to America, has a big effect, leaves America, goes to France
§ He is defining, expressing, and describing an American life
§ As American as Franklin
o Publicist- writes pamphlets about the American identity
§ Asks about whether or not English rule can work with this identity
· Benjamin Franklin
o Born in Boston
§ Has to leave b/c economy in Boston isn’t that great in 1720s
· Too far away from ship trade
§ His family had a lot of kids so he left to make his own way
· Goes to Philadelphia
o Making his way in Philadelphia and does really well
§ Retires early
§ Can work on inventions and such
§ Makes his money as a printer
· Poor Richard’s Almanac (self help book)
· Pennsylvania Gazette
§ Starts first fire insurance company
· Journalists trained to ask: “where’s the fire”
· Goes to fire site and sells them insurance
o He knows there is a reason to regard the colonies as a single entity
§ Looks at differences between Americans and British
§ Talking about problems that are uniquely American
· But, most of his life up to 30 was spent outside the country
· 1750s to mid 1760s he was doing Pennsylvania’s business in England (parliament)
o Colony’s ambassador to France
o Europeans who meet him use as a mental picture of an American
§ Give him honorary degrees from oxford and St. Andrewsà Dr. Franklin
o He is the visual contact of America
§ He knows it
§ Can make himself seem like a classy European or a common American Puritan/Quaker
· He is neither
· He attends a Presbyterian Church but isn’t that either
· He’s a Deist- religion of enlightenment philosophers: has no revelation and no creed
· Believes in just, ethical, supreme being who stays out of things
· Basic religious sense of ethics and justice
· Rational but ethical
· Shows up in church b/c he thinks religion has a good effect on American life
§ Comes back just in time for Constitutional Convention
Glorious Revolution
Monarchyà civil warà republicà monarchy (Charles II and James II)
Charles good at getting along with Parliament
Subtle Catholic
James has blatant disrespect for laws
Openly catholic
Has 2 Anglican daughters who people hope will take throne after him
Marries again and has a son—catholic
Policy
Both sons like to consolidate
Power
Communications of command
James= manager of colonial policy
Revokes charters of all colonies in New England
No more town meetings, general court, governor…
Form Dominion of New England
Incorporates New England + New York and New Jersey
Best way to consolidate power is to fuse together New England and Dutch conquered lands
Wants to reinstitute royal absolutism
Like French
Ignores English history and tradition
England has gone through a lot of different governments
Stuarts don’t learn that
Edmund Andros
Appointed to run the Dominion of New England
When James’ son is born leaders in England get rid of James
Invite William and Mary from Netherlands to come run England
Mary= one of James’ protestant daughters
James is chased out without bloodshed
Called Glorious Revolution
Glorious Revolution
Intellectual basis
Base revolution on political philosophies of John Locke
Natural rights: life, liberty, property
Born with these rights
Rights supposed to be protected by government
Society has made a social contract that gives power to government
That way government can protect rights
If rulers break social contract, they can be thrown out
Born unadorned
Your experiences make you who you are
Tabula raza= blank slate
American experience
Retains continuity
Still monarchy
Conditions for William and Mary is that they sign Bill of Rights
Bill of Rights
Have to consult Parliament
MUST be summoned
Permanent legislative
House of Commons officially get the “power of the purse”
In order to vote/take office you have to take communion in Church of England
Way of excluding Catholics and keeping them out of office
King can’t be catholic
Religious toleration laws though
There will be no standing army in peace time
Kings can’t impose military on people
Navy is excluded
In colonies, military presence is absent
Didn’t have money for it anyway
Colonies are militarily on their own
Reaffirmations of basic rights—“rights of Englishmen”
Due process of law
Jury of peers
Know charges against you
Habeaus corpus
Representation by lawyer
Right to a trial
See witnesses and cross examination
Tries to put all rights in writing
#s 4-8 of American Bill of Rights are originally from English Bill of Rights
Glorious Revolution in Colonies
Reversal of James II’s acts by Parliament/King William (crown and parliament have to go together)
Assemblies come back—town meetings
Dominion of England taken apart
Redo charters
Plymouth becomes part of Massachusetts
West Jersey and East Jersey put together
Assemblies
Electorate voting and running for office based on property ownership
Even in New England now
Vested interest- you have something to gain or lose
If you are voting for a representative who gets to vote on things that affect you
Property laws for example
If you don’t have any property to be taken away, you won’t understand the law
Mostly wealthy people do it- you have to be able to afford to live in county center
You don’t get paid for being in the legislature
It’s a duty, not a job
Domination of one idea over another
Tory= pro monarchy
Established church
Sympathize w/ French
Want strong central governmentà gives London power
People close to the king have power
“court party”
Whig= pro- parliament
Protestant pluralism
Sympathize w/ Dutchà anti-French
Want parliamentà representativeà decentralized power
“country party”
People’s country isn’t Britain
It’s their community
Believe liberties are best protected at local level
Best protected by people who know you
Representatives who can better speak for you
People are getting the idea that representative government is betterà rising “Whig ideology/outlook”
People realize they like government less royally centered
Proto- republicans
Whigs are in charge of government in England
Still forcing changes from top down from London onto colonies
Religious policy passed from England
Charters
Colonies still have no say in that
To colonists the whigs in London sound in tories
Whigs might be better defined as people who don’t have the power
Once you get the power you become like the Tories
That’s why US government has things get renewed—prevent so many tories
Colonies need to be linked with England though
England needs to keep authority from top down b/c when Britain goes to war the colonies of Britain and their enemies also go to war
Colonies have a certain political understanding
Glorious Revolution confirms it but also says that colonies have to answer to authority in London
Trade
Nothing has changed on trade—Navigation Acts
Goods have to be routed through London so they can get their tax, even if start and end locations are in colonies
Army
Colonial militias, not organized army
No British troops in colonies
French-Indian war needs military later
Britain troops aren’t voluntary
Press gang—take negligent people and kidnap them to army
Take people from jails too
Officers buy their commission
You buy your way up
Changes
Government policies that puts rules in place but sees that it’s not good to enforce them all the time= Salutary Neglect
Can’t arrest everybody
Only focus on important things
Show you’re in charge but that you have better things to do than chaperone all the time
Sometimes it’s more profitable to allow illegal things to go on
Bribery
As a result, smuggling and trade within colonies goes on
If Britain ever reverses that stance, colonies will get angry
Colonies are responding to a need to connect more effectively
Shipping lanes
Beginning of a road system
Clear idea of how to get from place to place
Called “post road”
Before there was only a loose network of Indian trails
Knit them together
Beginnings of east/west highway between colonial networks
North/south highways too
Movement and correspondence between colonies
Postal system
Ask crown to name someone in charge of post system (roads etc)—postmaster general
Appoint Benjamin Franklin
Immigration
Affects colonial economic scene
Natural increase + burst of immigrants
Africans 1/5 colonials is of African origins
Germans
Mostly religious minorities—pacifists
Penn likes them
Called “Pennsylvania Dutch”
Live in cities and frontier of Pennsylvania
Good at growing things
Germany becomes 2nd most popular language
Movement to make Germany official language
West Germany mostly
English
Scots
Scots Irish
Scottish transported to northern Ireland for fertile land
Land isn’t good enough
Protestant
Irish
Some Catholics, but mostly Protestant
Differences in wealth
English more wealthy than Irish, Scots Irish, Scots
Get exploited by the English
English immigrants decreasing some
Better economy in Britain
Resentment against Britain
Scots, Scots Irish, and Scots are unhappy that even in America English have the power
Resentment continues into America
Groups go into the background and become more radical
Don’t like power structure
Slavery issue
Great Awakening
Opposed to Puritanism
Puritans have predestination
Now they can repent and be saved
Treats people with dignityà anti-slavery
Enlightenment
About logic—it is hard to unite enlightenment with slavery
On one hand, slavery denies the natural rights of slaves and puts them into a social contract that does not honor those rights
On other hand, social contract based on the preservation of property and slaves are considered property
So, you can be pro enlightenment and anti slavery
You need a new reason for supporting anti-slavery though
You are anti-slavery because it is unreasonable, not because it’s a sin
It doesn’t make sense to do bad things
Two opposing movements but they do agree on certain issues
Only support things for different reasons
Rebellion and War, 1660-1713
English make an effort to expand overseas trade at expense of their rivals
Subordinate colonies to English commercial interests and political authority
Royal Centralization, 1660-1688
James II and Charles II are sons of Charles I, who was executed by Parliament
They distrust representative government
Charles doesn’t call parliament
James wants to have absolute rule without facing an elected legislature
Don’t like colonial assemblies
New York has most direct political control by royals
James II is Duke of York
Forbids assemblies to meet except for a short period of time
Charles appoints former army officers to 90 % of posts
Against English tradition of only having military in charge of civil authority
“governors general” is what they are called
New Englanders are resentful of meddling
Massachusetts declares citizens exempt from royal decrees and laws except for a declaration of war
Ignore navigation acts
Charles targets Massachusetts
Takes some land from it to make New Hampshire
Revokes its charter and makes it a royal colony
When James II becomes king he makes Dominion of New England
Combines Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Plymouth into one administrative unit
New York and New Jersey later added
Legislatures in colonies cease to exist
Sir Edmund Andros becomes governor of Dominion
Massachusetts hates Andros
He suppresses legislature
Allows only one annual meeting
Enforced toleration of Anglicans and Navigation acts
Puts some elites in high office
In New York Catholics have prominent political and military posts
People worried that they would betray NY to France
The Glorious Revolution in England and America, 1688-1689
Colonists become scared as James II and Charles II turn catholic
James converts and Charles converts on his deathbed
People get even more worried when they show signs of allying England with France, which had begun to persecute Protestant Huguenots
English only tolerated James II’s Catholicism because they thought his Anglican daughters would inherit the throne
When he has a son, who rules as a Catholic, some religious and political leaders ask Mary and husband William of Orange (leader of Dutch Republic) to take throne
Lead Dutch army to England in November 1688
Royal troops defect
James II flees to France
Called the Glorious Revolution- bloodless
New crown agrees to
Summon Parliament annually
Sing all parliament’s bills
Respect traditional civil liberties
Colonies also move towards revolution
New England
Before finding out about the success of the Glorious Rev, Boston’s militia arrests Andros and his councilors
Act in the name of William and Mary
William and Mary dismantle Dominion of New England
Restore power to elected governors of Connecticut and Rhode Island
Retain Massachusetts as royal colony
Let it have Plymouth and Maine but not New Hampshire
Crown rather than electorate would appoint governor
Landownership, not church ownership becomes voting criteria
They had to start tolerating other Christians (whose taxes would still go to their congregation)
New York
Leisler’s Rebellion
City’s militia, led by Captain Jacob Leisler, take command of harbor’s main fort
Repair defenses
Call for elections for assembly
Don’t let English troops into key fortsà skirmish
Leisler arrested and charged with treason
He had arrested a lot of elites who rejected his authority
They had talked to new governor and got him convicted for firing on royal troops
Leisler and son-in-law sent to gallows
Maryland
Message from Lord Baltimore saying to obey William and Mary gets lost when messenger dies in passage
Hoped message would prevent any uprisings
Protestants fear Lord Baltimore supports James II secretly
John Cood and 3 others make Protestant Association and try to secure Maryland for William and Mary
Possibly more of a result of the fact that they resented being excluded from high public office b/c ¾ had Catholic wives
Seize capital and get Catholics out of office
Request royal governor
Get governor in 1691
Make Church of England established religion
Catholics can’t worship publicly and can’t vote
Remains a royal colony until 4th Lord Baltimore gets it back by entering Church of England
Important Change
Reestablishes legislative government and religious freedom for Protestants
William and Mary get rid f Dominion
Hand power over to elites, which they trust to follow interests of England
Makes system of allegiance voluntary rather than raw power imposed from far away
Americans have rising confidence from relationship with English throne
A Generation of War, 1689-1713
King William’s War
England joins a coalition against France’s Louis XIV, who supported James II’s claim to throne
War of League of Augsburg or King William’s War
New Yorkers and New Englanders launch attack
Attack Montréal
Attack Quebec
Both invasions fail
Fighting becomes violent inconclusive border raids by both sides and their Indian allies
Five nations Iroquois Confederacy bears most of bloodshed
Almost alone against enemies: pro-French Indians go from Maine to Great lakes
English armies often fail to intercept enemies
Many Iroquois die
By 1700 Iroquois are divided into pro-English, pro-French, and neutralists
Neutralists try diplomacy
Make treaty called Grand Settlement of 1701
Makes peace w/ France and its Indian allies in exchange for access to western furs
Redefines alliances with England to exclude military commitments
Allows them to keep control of land, rebuild population, and gain recognition as a power in Northeast
War of Spanish Succession/Queen Anne’s War
Reinforces Anglo-American’s sense of military weakness
French destroy several newly built towns
Anglo-Spanish war extends old conflicts between New Spain and the Carolinas
Almost take Charles Town in 1706
Launch coastal raids and looting parties
Colonies siege Quebec and St. Augustineà expensive failures
English forces do a better than the colonists
Take Hudson bay , Newfoundland, and Acadia (Nova Scotia)
But, French and Indian hold is still unbroken in interior
Consequences are important politically
Establishes Anglo-Americans as people of Protestantism and liberty
But they realize that they are still dependent on the UK for protection
War buttresses their loyalty to the crown
Colonial Economies and Societies, 1660-1750
- Britain, France, and Spain were economic rivals – used N.A.
o Wanted to integrate colonies into single imperial economies
Mercantilist Empires in America
o Britain, France and Spain were rooted in mercantilism – self-sufficiency (exporting more than importing)
o Britain’s mercantilist policies were summarized in Navigation Acts – governed commerce between England and its colonies
§ Colonial trade be carried on English or colonial owned vessels
§ Prohibited trade to countries other than England
§ Molasses Act of 1733 – taxed foreign molasses entering mainland colonies
· Served as tariff
o Effects of Navigation Acts
§ 1) Limited all imperial trade to English ships who crews were mostly English
· Laid foundations for American shipbuilding industry and merchant marine
· Swift growth of merchant marine – made northern colonial economy more commercial
· Created centralized docks, warehouses, and repair shops in colonies
§ 2) Barring exports of certain “enumerated goods” to foreign nations unless items passed through England or Scotland
· Enumerated goods = tobacco, rice, furs, indigo, etc.
· Parliament reduced burdens on exporters
o Gave tobacco growers a monopoly over British market by excluding foreign tobacco
o Minimized added cost of landing tobacco and rice in Britain by refunding customs duties when products were later shipped to other countries
§ 3) Encourage economic diversification
· Parliament used British tax revenues to pay bounties to Americans producing goods
· Raised price of commercial rivals’ imports by imposing tariffs
· Colonists produced clothing and iron
§ 4) Made colonies a protected market for low-priced consumer goods and other exports from Britain
· Demand for colonial products led to prosperity – enabled colonists to consume larger amounts of other goods
· Shops sprang up
· Itinerant peddlers traveled to more remote areas
o 1760s à Consumer Revolution
§ Increase in consumer buying and selling (contributed to exports from 5% to 40%)
o Imported goods enabled middle class colonists to mimic lifestyles of British
§ Popular import à tea
o Economic development of French and Spanish was nothing compared to that of British colonies
o France
§ France’s most forceful proponent of mercantilism – Colbert
§ Had difficulty implementing mercantilist policies
· New France eventually developed economic self-sufficiency
· Chief imports: wine and brandy; chief export: furs (expanded fur trade)
§ France maintained army in Canada – drained royal treasury
§ French Canadians lacked private investment, extensive commercial infrastructure vast consumer market, and manufacturing capacity of British
§ France’s greatest American success – French planters emulated English by importing large numbers of African slaves to produce sugar
· French planters defied some mercantilist policies
o French sugar planters made own molasses rather than shipping raw sugar off to France to be refined
o Spain
§ Spain spent wealth of gold and silver
· Economy revived (but not in N.A.)
· Spanish colonies didn’t really have overseas commerce
§ Spanish traded with Louisiana, British, French, and Indian allies
o England became mercantile-commercial economy
§ Strengthened navy to protect trade
§ Benefits also affected British colonies as well (Parliament intended for only Britain to benefit)
Immigration, Population Growth, and Diversity
British have most people in North America—gives them an advantage over Spain and Britain
Spain
Usually immigrants go to South America, not New Mexico, Texas, or Florida
Limits immigration to Catholicsà protestants go to British America
Sees North American colonies more as buffers for protecting South America from English and French
Rely on soldiers in presidios (forts) and strategically placed missions that would convert Indians for defense
France
Canada and Louisiana don’t sound very appealing b/c of harsh winters and poor economy
Limits immigration to Catholics
French immigration suffers
Mostly criminals and paupers get sent there
Some colonies made in Missouri and Upper Louisiana
Military prominent while missionaries and traders work with Native Americans
English colonies
Have good farmland, healthy economy, and a willingness to absorb most European religions (except Catholicism)
Population growth is more from natural increase than immigration
More slaves start coming over
Coming to America
Some traders deliberately mix many cultures on a ship to prevent rebellion
Some chose slaves from certain regions for their rice growing experience
Passage over is cramped and disease ridden
Many die or try to jump overboard
Slave population doubles
Primarily a southern institution but still slaves in north
5% of all slaves are going to US
Colonists couldn’t afford as many male slaves as they wanted so they bought women and preserved their health
Start up family units
Better life expectancy for slaves than in Caribbean
Creole Slaves (American-born slaves)
Have advantages over African-born blacks
Familiar with environment, culture, and way of their masters
Do less hard labor and more housework
African born slaves go to new settlements to do heavy labor
Immigration
Not as many English are coming over
Wages and employment had risen in Englandà less people need to come
But, still hardships in British Isles and northern Europeà immigration
Results in diversity
Many are Scots-Irish
Scottish Presbyterians whose ancestors settled in Ireland to escape rack renting (sharp frequent increases in farm rents)
Immigrate in complete families
Catholic Irish immigrants come over single but can’t find many Catholic women
Change to Protestant to take a wife
Work as indentured servants
German
Escaping economic hardships in wartime Rhine Valley
Squeezed onto plots of land too small to support and feed a family
Come over by indenturing themselves or the family
Most Lutheran or Calvinist and some pacifist religions
Immigrants are poor
Mostly indentured servants who could face brutal conditions
A lot of people come to Philadelphia and Piedmont
Germans in upper NY
Scots Irish and Germans in go south from Pennsylvania and into Maryland
Germans and Irish into Charles Town
Outpouring of people, including immigrants, from Chesapeake into North Carolina
Convict laborers
Least free of whites
People commit major to trivial offensesà sent to America
Some manage to become successful backcountry farmers
Anglo-Americans don’t like this many people coming from different cultures
Don’t want colonies to be taken over by another culture
Rural White Men and Women
Benefits to rising living standards = enjoyed unevenly
True affluence = reserved for people with inherited wealth, save for Franklin and a few others.
Personal success for whites = limited à hard work.
Farmers
Couldn’t provide children with land of own when married
Children in 20s through 40s, lived past 60s – inheritance for all but youngest came in middle age.
Young adults – rarely more than 6th or 7th of estate à wills divided evenly b/w sons and daughters
Savings for farm equipment – working as field hand
Young husband – rent farm because of 33% down payments on mortgages.
High birthrates + shortages of productive land = limit farming opportunities
Young men turned to frontier, port cities, and high seas to make money.
Often supplemented income w/ seasonal work – carpentry, fur trapping, gathering honey, cider-making, shingle making, draining meadows, clearing fields, fencing land, etc.
Worked off mortgages slowly because cash income = interest on borrowed money (both about 6%)
Inherited shares of parents estate – help pay, as well as income form working teenagers
Freed of debt as youngest leaves home.
The more isolated/unproductive, the more self-sufficiency and bartering occurred
Dependent on abilities of women to make necessities
Clean, cook, boil soap, make clothes, tend garden, dairy, orchard, poultry house, and pigsty.
Sold dairy products to neighbors/merchants
Spun yarn for tailors, sold knitted garments and own hair for wigs
Women worked as much as men
Legally – women constrained à only autonomous decision = husband
Dowry after marriage:
English – lost control
Dutch – kept
French and Spanish – kept
Colonial Farmers and the Environment
Rapid expansion of colonies—environmental changes east of Appalachians
Had to remove trees before plotting land
Preferred heavily forested areas – better soil – willing to deal with labor of clearing
New England – had to clear rocks from Ice Age – built walls with them
Use timber for:
Housing, barns, fences
Fuel for heating/cooking
Sold to urbanites
Deforestation
Drives away forest animals and attract grass and sees eating animals (rabbits, mice, possums)
Removes protection from winds and sun – warmer summers, colder winters – increased demand for firewood.
Hastened the runoff of spring waters – flooding, dry streambeds, extensive swamps.
Reduced number of fish
Dried and hardened soil –developed idea of rotating crops to replenish nutrients within soil
Many didn’t have enough land to do this/were unwilling to give up any.
Chesapeake – tobacco fields declined after ¾ years à move inland, also contributing to increased soil erosion.
Turn to conservation “scientific” farming
The Urban Paradox
Cities – rising prosperity
Economic success elusive for Philly, NY, and Boston
Influx of poor white men, women, and children
High pop density, poor sanitation – contagious diseases à half of children died before age 21
Urban people – ten years off life expectancy
Urban artisans – has trained apprentices and employed them as journeymen before opening own shops – by this time, however, only employed laborers when business was good à recommended by Ben Franklin in 1751 to reduce labor costs
Recessions – 1720 à increasingly difficult to afford necessities
Urban poverty
1730 – Boston could no longer shelter destitute in almshouse (built 1635)
Number of residents too poor to pay taxes increased
NY – need poorhouse in 1736 – by 1772, 4% of residents needed assistance to survive.
Wealth – remained highly concentrated
NY’s wealthiest 10% owned 45% of property throughout 18th century.
Southern cities = large towns
Charles Town = North America’s 4th largest city
Gracious living to wealthy planters
White influx was encouraged, but most European newcomers couldn’t establish farms or find work.
Poor whites competed for work with rented-out slaves.
Middle class women in cities managed complex households
Often worked in family business and operated shops in homes
Less affluent wives and widows
Fewest opportunities
Housed boarders, had no servants
Spun cloth instead of buying it
Looked to community for relief
Bostonians looked wearily upon needs, in contrast to John Winthrop and other Puritan’s emphasis on care of the poor as a Christian duty.
1752 – City’s leading minister Charles Chauncy à lamented number of children on the streets, claiming they were there because of “idleness and ignorance”
Others said charity for widows and children was “money worse than lost”
Slavery’s Wages
For slaves, the economic progress in colonial America meant that owners could afford to keep them healthy – rarely make them comfortable
Amount of $ spent on indentured servants = more than on slaves
Blacks worked for far longer portion of lives than whites
Slave children
Black women tended tobacco/rice crops and worked outdoors even when pregnant VS. white women who worked in homes, barns, gardens
Africans and creoles tried to maximize opportunities within harsh system of slavery: demand tips of guests when shined shoes/stabled horses; sought presents on holidays
Task System: In South Carolina and Georgia rice country, slaves working under task system gained control of ½ their waking hours
Under tasking, slave spent time caring for a ¼ acre then ended duties for day
permitted a few slaves to keep hogs and sell veggies on own
1728- exceptional slave, Sampson earned enough $ to buy another slave who he sold to his master in exchange for own freedom
Gang System: used on tobacco plantations, afforded Chesapeake slaves less free time than Carolina slaves - worked “from daylight until dusk”
Despite Carolina slaves’ greater autonomy, racial tensions = high in the colony
As long as Europeans out#d Africans, race relations = relaxed
h/e as black majority emerged, whites ^ used force to control
1735 law- dress code imposed on slaves’ apparel – must be cheap
concerned about gatherings of blacks uncontrolled by whites à 1721, Charles Town enacted 9pm curfew for blacks, while Carolina’s assembly placed slave patrols under colonial militia
à blacks responded to colony’s vigilance/punishments with arson, theft, flight, violence
Stono Rebellion
South Carolina (sep. from NC since 1729) rocked by powerful slave uprising, Stono Rebellion
20 blacks seized guns/ammo from store outside Charles Town, marched under flag crying “liberty!”
collected 80 men à headed S toward Spanish FL (refuge for escapees)
along way burned 7 plantations, killed 20 whites, but spared Scottish innkeeper for being good man + kind to his slaves
within day, militia surrounded slaves and cut them down mercilessly
spiked heads on poles and placed between that spot + Charles Town
other uprisings in colony took more than month to suppress – ppl put to “most cruel death”
Thereafter, whites enacted a new slave code which:
kept SC slaves under constant surveillance
threatened masters with fines for not disciplining slaves
required legislative approval for manumission (freeing individ. slave)
Stono Rebellion therefore reinforced SC’s emergence as rigid, racist, fear-ridden society
Urban Slaves
Mid-century, pop of NYC = 20% slaves
Slave majority in Charles Town and Savannah
Southern slave owners rented out labor of slaves (cheaper than white workers)
Slave artisans (usually creoles) worked as shipwrights, rope makers, goldsmiths etc.
Slaves in northern cities often Unskilled
Urban slaves in both N+S lived apart from masters in rented quarters alongside free blacks
Though urban slavery afforded greater freedom than plantations, blacks still property, racist restrictions
1712 NYC - rebellious slaves killed 9 whites à as result, 18 slaves hanged/tortured to death; 6 others suicide to avoid it
1741- wave of thefts and fires attrib. to NY slaves led to similar executions of 26 slaves + 4 white accomplices, and the sale of 70 more blacks to W Indies
The Rise of Colonial Elites
British America’s upper class/gentry: A few colonists benefited disproportionately from growing wealth of Britain + colonies à these elite colonists inherited advantages at birth and ^ them thru crops, buying/selling commodities across Atlantic, serving as attorneys for other elite colonists
Gentleman expected to behave w/ responsibility, dignity, generosity, be community leader
His wide, a “lady” = skillful household manager, refined yet deferring hostess
Before 1700, colonies’ class structure not readily apparent b/c elites spent their limited resources buying land, servants, slaves instead of luxuries
As British mercantilist trade ^, higher incomes enabled elite colonists to display wealth (esp. in housing)
Greater gentry (richest 2% owning 15% of all property) constructed mansions
Lesser gentry (2nd wealthiest 2-10% holding 25% of all prop) lived in more modest dwellings
In contrast, middle-class farmers inhabited small 1story wooden buildings
Colonial gentlemen + ladies also showed status by imitating “refinement” of upper-class Europeans: $$$ Eng. fashions, carriages, chinaware, books, furniture, musical instruments, studied foreign langs, learned formal dances, polite manners, moved toward horse racing (bet) and away from cockfighting, traveled abroad to get Eng. edu.
Therefore, Elites led colonists growing taste for Brit. fashions + consumer goods
Competing for a Continent, 1713-1750
France and Native Americans
Louisiana is main French colony
Allied with Choctaw Indians
Choctaws get divided though as Carolina traders come in
Pro-English and pro-French Choctaws
Had hoped Choctaws would counter Spanish in Florida and Carolina’s traders
Louisiana Life
Corrupt government
Slow export economyà hard to support yourself
Could plant own food, hung, and fish
Depend on exchanges with native Americans
Indians give goods to merchants and merchants give things to Indians
Indians from Mississippi bring horses and cattle
Stolen from Spanish ranches in Texas
Africans familiar with cattle become rustlers or beef traders
Upper Louisiana= Illinois
Better off
1/3 slave population
Wheat is principal export
More reliable crop than commodities of tobacco or rice
Remote location attracts few whites
Harder to transport things too
Depend on Native American allies for defense from other Indian enemies
France tries to take Ohio Valley (already have Canada and Mississippi Valley)
Ohio Valley mostly has Iroquois
Peaceful place b/c of Iroquois neutrality after 1701
Attracts Indians from all over
France tries to get commercial and diplomatic ties with them
Detroit and other cities grow
House Indians, French and mètis (mixed)
English traders threaten this b/c they have cheaper goods
French do still subjugate some Indians
Face attacks from Carolina-supported Chickasaw Indians and Mesquakie (fox) Indians
Suppress Natchez Indians to take their land for plantations
Enslave native Americans for labor
Pushing west to North Dakota and Colorado
Trade with Indian slaves on great Plains
British have to competeà trade goods, guns included
Guns spread to Canada and then Plains
Plains Indians have horses too
Left by Spanish in New Mexico
With horses and guns, Indians have new mobile lifestyle
Use buffalo as major food source—chase it
France’s domain is dependent on relationship with native Americans
Native Americans and British Expansion
Colonies expand by taking native American land
Diseases, war, and political pressure used to get land
Carolina
Tuscarora Indians provoked by whites taking their land
Kidnap and enslave some people
Burn Swiss settlement of New Bern
North Carolina asks South Carolina and Indian allies for help in defeating Tuscarora
Crush Tuscarora
Survivors enslaved or migrate to upstate NY and join Iroquois confederacy (nation # 6)
Carolina allies don’t like continual subjugation of Native Americans
Yamasees with Catawbas and Creeks lead attack on English trading houses
Carolina eventually crushes it with help from slaves, Cherokee
Catawbas now vulnerable
Pressure on one side from English and Iroquois on the other
Carolina settlers moving closer to Catawba land
Catawbas move further out
Pushes them closer to Iroquois
Iroquois, after neutrality with French Indian allies, go south for raids etc
Catawbas give land to settlers and agree to help defend Carolina from outside Indians
Get guns, food, and clothing
Now they are stronger and have greater security
But, still a gap between settlers and Indians
Both competing for resources
Iroquois Confederacy in north makes Covenant Chain with several colonies
Confederacy helps colonies subjugate Indians whose land English wanted
Iroquois control the center of Native American power
Separate but cooperative with British
Also allows them to keep more of their own land by deflecting potential English expansion
Powerful when Pennsylvania enters in 1737
Pennsylvania declining from William Penn’s vision
Walking Purchase
Make fraudulent treaty
Claim it was made in 1686 w/ Delaware Indians
Say that Indians agreed to give them as much land as a man could walk in a half day
Delawares have to give 1200 sq miles to Pennsylvania, even though elders who were alive in 1686 didn’t remember this treaty
This land becomes most productive in British Empire
British Expansion in the South: Georgia
Parliament authorized new colony, Georgia
James Oglethorpe purchases land from Creeks
Wants to make Georgia a producer of commodities: silk, wine
Wants it to be a refuge for honest debtors
Parliament gives funding
Oglethorpe= main trustee
Founds Savannah= port of entry
Immigrants from Germany, Switzerland, and Scotland come over
Georgia most inclusive colony, along with Pennsylvania
Hates slavery
Thinks it makes whites lazy
Don’t want slave revolts that would give Spanish a chance to invade
Slavery undermines economic position of poor whites in Georgia
Georgia becomes only state with laws preventing slavery
Limited landholdings to no larger than 500 acres
Want to keep Georgia white for independent farmer-soldiers
Defend colony and not give up land to speculators or large plantations
His goals fail
Limits on settler’s land prevents immigration
Parliament has too many rules against debtor’s release from prison
Commodity crops are impractical
Only rice is profitable
Oglethorpe works against economic reality for a decade then gives up
Trustees legalize slavery and lift landholding restrictions
Georgia booms
Spain’s Tenacity
Spain spreads its language and culture in Southwest
Repopulate New Mexico after Pueblo Revolt
Give grants to small towns of 10 families or more
Build strong fortifications against Indian attacks (primarily Apache)
Build homes on small lots around church plaza and farm separate fields nearby, graze livestock at a distance
Share wood lot and pasture
Ranchos raise livestock
Very large radiating from towns
Monopolize land along the Rio Grande
Herders create life of American cowboy
Pueblo Indians cooperate with Spanish
Many convert to Catholicism in addition practice traditional religion
Come under Apache, Ute, and Comanche raids
Try to take livestock, European goods, and captives
Need to replace own people who were taken by Spanish raiders to work Mexican silver mines
Texas made to counter French influence w/ Comanches and other Indians in the Plains
Make outposts along San Antonio and Guadalupe Rivers
San Antonio de Béxar is center
2 towns—mission (the Alamo) and presidio
Most Indians in Texas prefer trade with the French to farming, Christianity, and ineffective protection of the Spanish
Lack of securityà many die in raids
Florida is also in danger
Neutrality of Creek Indians allow Spanish to compete in deerskin trade and sponsor counter-raids into Carolina
Offer freedom to English slaves who escape to Florida
Few colonists compared to Carolina
With founding of Georgia, they see it as a threat
Go to war when Spain and Britain do
Bloody and inconclusive
Spain’s control depends of alliances with Native Americans
The Return of War, 1739-1748
Britain goes to war against Spain under pretence that Spanish cut off the ear of a British smuggler named Jenkinsà War of Jenkins’ Ear
Oglethorpe leads assault on Florida
Doesn’t get St. Augustine
Repels counterattack on Georgia
Colonists join British assault on Cartenega
Many die b/c of Spanish repelling attack and yellow fever
War of Austrian Successionà King George’s War
Not many big battles in colonies
Most were attacks on civilians
Noncombatants killed or captured
Most captives are New Englanders captured by French or Indians
Prisoners exchanged after war but some elect to stay with their captors
Only one major fight
William Pepperell leads New Englanders of Main to besiege Louisbourg (French)
Louisbourg guards entrance to St. Lawrence river
Get Louisbourg, but no more
Inconclusive, long, and bloody warfare
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle
Exchange Louisbourg for French seized land in India
Colonists sacrifices at Cartenega and Louisbourg aren’t forgotten
Public Life in British America, 1689-1750
British ideas influence the colonies
British Bill of Rights is in colonies
George Whitefield sparks transformation of Protestantism
Enlightenment thinkers inspire colonists
Forges stronger bonds to Britain
Emphasize more people involved in politics, religious movements, and intellectual discussions
Colonial policies
Glorious revolutionà rise of legislatures as a major political force
Assemblies become more influential
Usually there is a governor appointed by crown or proprietor (except Connecticut and Rhode Island)
Chooses a council (except in Massachusetts)
Makes up upper house of legislature
Lower house is the assembly
Crown/proprietor has no authority in assembly
Used to just go along w/ governor and council
After Glorious Rev. they take more central role
Lower house wants rights given to House of Commons in England
They are essentially both the voice of the people
Want a greater check on the governor—like how English had checked the king with a constitutional monarchy
Bill of Rights
Especially interested in power of the purse that H of C had
Assemblies take control of taxes and budgets/ don’t allow any meddling
Has “power of the purse” b/c they control the governor’s salary not the English crown or the proprietor
Can sometimes convince governors to pass laws that wouldn’t pass other wise
Governor could veto acts, call/dismiss assembly sessions, and schedule elections
Board of Trade (1696)
Allowed crown to undo objectionable laws that assemblies had gotten past the governor
Doesn’t really use this power before mid 1700s
Colonies are self governing in everything but trade and money-printing restrictions
Representative government is nurtured in colonies and supported by British Empire
Participation in Government
Mostly dominated by wealthy elites in the assembly
Governors put greater gentry in his council to placate them
Lesser gentry could be in legislature but more often became justices of the peace
Running for Office
Legal requirements for running for office were hard to meet by most people
Most people weren’t wealthy enough to spare long periods of time away from the store/farm to go to the capital for meetings
So, wealthy families dominate
Suffrage
Must be white and male plus some other qualifications that varied
Sometimes land/wealth requirements
Participation in rural areas is low b/c people don’t want to travel to county seat to vote
Poor roads
Governors could schedule elections so elections were sporadic and sometimes rural people wouldn’t know they were being held
Sometimes elections were done orallyà people who disagree with elites don’t voice opinions
Elites would pre-arrange elections
Many people run unopposed
“running” for position was seen as un-gentleman-like
Rural people were pretty indifferent to politics
Some Mass. Towns refused to elect assembly so they wouldn’t have to pay for legislators’ expenses
Many elected candidates don’t take seats
Elections grow slowly
In time rural voters and urban voters express themselves more forcefully
Good political life in northern seaports
Colonists ally themselves for or against governor
Rival groups get non-elite support
Groups w/ governor fear that unleashing popular passions will lead to social disorder
New York has good political life
Governor William Cosby suspends political rival chief justice Lewis Morris for ruling against fim
Newspapers for Morris say Cosby and his council are corrupt
Newspapers for Governor accuse printer of New-York Weekly Journal (pro-Morris), Peter Zenger or libel
Zenger acquitted in trial
Attorney Andrew Hamilton had directly addressed juries on behalf of defendant, allowing them to decide
Uses truth of statements printed as evidence in libel case
Not sufficient evidence before
Zenger case doesn’t change press laws, but by empowering readers, nonelites, and jurors political power spreads to public life
Enlightenment and Great Awakening
Great Awakening comes after Enlightenment so as a reaction to what ideas were
Enlightenment
Talk in salons
Discuss ideas
People have higher levels of culture
All about reason
Preserve of people who are educated and wealthy
Breeds backlash by the people aren’t educated and wealthy
Ordinary people don’t like disconnect of reason and reality
Great Awakening
Movement to religion
Attack materialism/corruption of clergy
Some New England ministers start revival of religion
Draws people attention to the idea of rampant sin
Enlightenment goes against sin
Original sin goes against Locke’s idea of a blank slate upon birth
Whitefield
Addresses people’s emotions
Shows them that they have abandoned God for rationalism
Need to feel their sin-liness
More people are experiencing God
Before, only people in cities with churches nearby could do religion
Used to also be a sign of wealth
Pew rentals—you had to buy your pew
Church was a sign of wealth
Movement says religion is for everyone
Ministers travel out to the rural areas to give religion
Introduced to slaves and Native Americans
Beginning of “black clergy”
Reverends in slave quarters have services
Don’t need a terrible amount of training
Revivalists start colleges of their own
Know that ministers need training and they won’t get it at the Old Light schools
Princeton, Brown, Rutgers, Dartmouth, Columbia (seminary)
U Penn is a secular university
Starts as the Philadelphia Philosophical Society
Started by Benjamin Franklin
Enlightenment school
The Enlightenment
Intellectual movement
Greater literacy rate in New England b/c of Protestant support of education
More people are dabbling in a new world of ideas and information
Human intelligence is in an age of progress and optimism
Enlightenment ideas
Confidence in human reason
Skepticism of things not proven by science
Newton explains things
Benjamin Franklin
Moved from Boston to Philadelphia just as city was taking off
Meets people who share his intellectual zeal
Forms the Junto= reading discussion group
Help him get printing contracts
Prints Poor Richerd’s Almanack
Collection of proverbs
Gets enough money to retire
Works in science and community
2 goals are related—scienceà people live more comfortably (electricity for example)
Enlightenment centers are in cities
Ideas circulate
People make little intellectual groups
Franklin makes American Philosophical Society in 1743
Becomes an inter-colonial network of amateur scientists
Kind of like Royal Society in London
Link between Britain and colonies
Enlightenment people think thought filters from top down
Don’t trust common people, especially in religion
John Lock writes Essay Concerning Human Understandin g
Talks about “rational” religion
When Bible conflicts with reason, chose reason
Ideas are acquired through reflection on one’s own experience
Argument for a God= orderliness of nature
Called Diests—God created the perfect universe so he doesn’t readily intervene but lets it go according to nature
Most enlightenment thinkers say they are Christian but aren’t really
Fear religion’s excesses that lead people to persecute b/c of religious enthusiasm
People act out of emotion rather than piety
Locke says one can only be certain of their own existence
People skeptic of zealots and sectarians
Franklin says religion is good for developing virtue but isnt interested in “theological hair splitting”
Enlightenment ideas play a large role in American revolution and formation of the United States Government
The Great Awakening
Many people’s lives are still hard
Diptheria epidemicà renewed religious fervor
Religious fervor would increase and then recede periodically
In 1739 there is a great outpouring of Protestatant revivalism
Called the “Great Awakening”
Embodies people’s enxiety about sin and longing for assurances of salvaiton
Charismatic preachers address these anxieties
Address the emotions of people in their sermons
Don’t talk so much about the intellectual side of theology
Revivalists
Show emptiness of material goods
Corruption of human hature
Fury of divine wrath
Johnathan Edwards leads a revival in Northampton, Massachusetts
Presbyterians William Tennet and Theodore Frelinghuysen also lead revivals
Most important revivalist is George Whitefield
Very good speaker—very persuasive
Inspires many to revive faith/join church
Divisions arise out of revivalist movement
New lights= revivalists
John Davenport and Gilbert Tennet
Say established clergy are “dead drones”
Tennet publishes “The Danger of an Unconverted Ministry”
They are criticizing foundations of social order
People don’t know who to trust
Old Lights
Establisehd clergy
Usually enlightenment thinkers
Saw New Lights as having the passion they were so worried about
Passion goes against rational thought
Say people mistake ravings and imagination for the experience of divine grace
Charles Chuancy= Boston’s leading congressionalists
Splits between old lights and new lights, esp. in Mass. And Connecticut
New lights imprisoned and face persecution
Have to keep paying tithes b/c old lights deny new light churches legal status
Connecticut makes laws to prevent New Lights from having marriages and expels many from legislature
New lights eventually win out
Effects of the Great Awakening (peaks in 1742/ 1755 in Virginia)
Decrease in power of Quakers, Anglicans, and Congressionalists
Thus, weakens idea of officially established denominations
Influence of Presbyterians and Baptists increases
New colleges built
New lights and old lights don’t want to study together
Make new colleges
Spread religious ideas beyond white society
Some Africans and native Americans like idea of piety over intellectual learningà incorporate some Christianity into their traditional culture
Beginnings of black Protestantism
New lights reach out to slaves
Some slaves even get to preach at revivalist meetings
Blacks and Indians are still persecuted though
Women get more religious prominence
Had long been used as examples of Christian piety
New Lights give them right to speak and vote in church meetings
Gain power like Anne Hutchinson did but don’t face persecution she did
Blurs denominational differences among Protestants
Whitefield= Anglican, but preaches with Presbyterians (Tennet and Davenport)
People emphasize need for salvation over tiny intricacies in practice
Emphasizes people’s common experiences and promotes coexistence of denominations
Great Awakening doesn’t inspire any revolution or political ideas
But does show people disagreeing with ideas of authority
Later evolves into revolution
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